FIR Filed Against Rahul Gandhi Over Remarks Calling Haldwani Ritual ‘Untouchability’

Rahul Gandhi faces a police case in Haldwani after a Scheduled Caste complainant accused him of wrongly describing a local purification ritual as untouchability.

Police registered the first information report on Sunday at Haldwani Kotwali in Uttarakhand’s Nainital district. The case concerns remarks Gandhi allegedly made at a New Delhi press conference on August 29 about a cleaning and havan ceremony held at the local Ramlila Ground.

The complainant, Amit Kumar, 26, identified himself as a member of the Scheduled Caste Valmiki community and an office-bearer of the Shri Ram Sena Dharmarth Seva Nyas. He alleged that Gandhi called the ritual an act of untouchability and an atrocity against the Scheduled Caste community without verifying the facts.

Superintendent of Police (City) Haldwani Manoj Kumar Katyal confirmed that police had acted on Kumar’s complaint. “Based on the complaint submitted by Amit Kumar, a Jawahar Nagar Colony resident, an FIR has been registered against Rahul Gandhi under relevant sections, and a thorough investigation into the matter is currently underway.”

The case invokes sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, along with Sections 196 and 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Gandhi has also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an FIR under the SC/ST Act over a purification ceremony held after a rally by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Uttarakhand.

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Based on the complaint submitted by Amit Kumar, a Jawahar Nagar Colony resident, an FIR has been registered against Rahul Gandhi under relevant sections, and a thorough investigation into the matter is currently underway.